More than 60 Gwinnett Schools’ parents spoke at a public hearing on the proposed boundary maps Wednesday. Some thanked planners for revising the map, but pushed them to do more.
About 200 people attended the hearing on the day before the Gwinnett County Board of education will vote on a plan to reassign about 700 students in the Duluth and Peachtree Ridge high school clusters.
The board is realigning the district to relieve crowding in some schools in the Peachtree Ridge attendance zone.
Parent Lisa Edwards said four out of five of the lowest-income neighborhoods on the map are still being proposed to go to Duluth. Previously, all five were zoned for the city.
“We teach children from many different ethnic backgrounds and from financial backgrounds that would break your heart,” Edwards said. “The revised map will add to these challenges. Do we have as many resources as Peachtree Ridge to help these kids? No.’’
Parent Allison Viller said schools with changing demographics after the new boundaries take effect will be held accountable for the progress of their new students under federal law so the district should do a better job of balancing the lines.
“Our schools are required to make Adequate Yearly Progress based on the subgroups of ethnicity and socioeconomic status that you have stated very clearly are not considered in the redistricting process,” said Viller. “It is time to change the redistricting process to align with No Child Left Behind … Please do not purposely put any Duluth Cluster schools on the path to potentially becoming a failing school.”
Many urged the district to go back to the drawing board and try again.
“In my opinion the old map was an ‘F' and the current map is a ‘C,'” said parent Amanda Helmstetter. “I would ask that the board vote no.”
Carlos Sanchez of Peachtree Ridge said his community was stunned to see that his neighborhood was thrown out of the zone.
"I went to bed Thursday [in Peachtree Ridge] and on Friday it was changed ... We thought we were safe," he said. "It doesn't make any sense for us to be out of the cluster. Our community was designed for the Peachtree Ridge cluster."
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